Young Adult Metastatic Vaginal Cancer and life after

Amanda’s world

Vaginal cancer before 30

It seems to be a bit of an oxymoron being the Happy Smiling Cancer Girl, it’s ironic. I am happy and smiling most of the time but I’m forever the cancer girl. It’s a little salute to who I used to be and a middle finger to what I am now.

I’m based in Oxfordshire, UK 🇬🇧, you’ll find me bungling through the minefield, that is now my life, of Stage 4B vaginal cancer. I receive my treatment at The Churchill Hospital, Oxford.

Before my diagnosis I was a glass half full kind of girl and throughout my treatment that stayed the same. I rarely thought that cancer would be the death of me… But sometimes those little niggles occur at 3am when you’re all alone.

I’ve got some mighty strong genes in me, so I have no plans of letting this defeat me. I’ve decided that I’m practically indestructible! I’m not gonna sit on my ass, I’m actually going to use this diagnosis to my advantage. So here it goes, welcome to my vaginal cancer blog as The happy smiling cancer girl!

Never heard of vaginal cancer before? Nah… Me neither before it all kicked off. If I’ve piqued your curiosity you can read more about the symptoms and different treatments for vaginal cancer via The Eve Appeal. A fantastic charity for any kind of gynecological awareness.

Never in a million years did I think I’d ever be blogging about my vagina! but here we go… This isn’t all doom and gloom!

I hope you find some of this useful whether you crossed my site by chance or for a purpose but please remember this is my life and not my medical opinion.

As of 21.05.18 I have been declared N.E.D (no evidence of disease!) This is a real turnaround for me as I’m sure my oncology team, and certainly I, never thought I’d get to this point. To make it clear it’s not “the all clear” you hear people talk about but its good enough. For a short period, at least, my treatment is finished. However the nasty bugger that cancer is, it will come back.

With this however, I am moving on from letting cancer dominate my life. I’m starting a new venture by combining my old life with my new one. I’m starting a mobile beauty service by bring beauty to people who need it! Find out all about it here! If you would like to help those going through cancer please SHARE AND DONATE to get the beauty bus on the road, it would be greatly appreciated

xoxo

Until then you can find me living my life and giving the finger 🖕 to cancer!

4 days agoby happysmilingcancergirlX•R•A•Y•S☢&B•L•O•O•D•S • Last Monday was my 3 monthly • Still good in the cancer department! That's a relief! • There's no denying that I've been out of sorts of late and I've kept the bad thoughts at bay for long enough! Pretty good if I say so myself! But it was boiling up, and over it spilled • Last Monday ended with me in tears in the oncology waiting room convinced the hour delay to my appointment was down to the recurrence of more devastation but thankfully it wasn't... Just normal everyday delays (big sigh of relief) • With colds,

2 weeks agoby happysmilingcancergirlF•U•NF•A•C•T • Apparently it can take 2-4 weeks for the swelling in your lymph nodes to go down but may not disappear completely... • Yay! Hamster face forever!

4 weeks agoby happysmilingcancergirlM•E•C•H•A•N•I•CM•A•N•D•Y • That's what they'll be calling me after this! Mondays spent under the bonnet... yes siree! • Some of you may not understand my vision... It's a big task converting a van into a beauty salon • But I'm a lady of many talents! • Some of you may think it's too big of a job. Yep, it's big. But one small bite of the elephant at a time and I'll get there • Today I took on the biggest challenge of the whole project. I'm told the most expert of experts have trouble with this. () So I

2 weeks agoby happysmilingcancergirlT•H•EH•Y•P•O•C•O•N•D•R•I•A•CC•A•M•E•L • How do you stop yourself from becoming a hypochondriac after cancer? • Well I'll tell you... with great difficulty! Every cough, ache and swelling is something sinister in this new world. Especially with a currently inactive but present cancer like mine • Last week I was pretty run down. Down to the bone dog tired. Recovering from a cold I told myself. Silent freak outs occured daily, its not cancer, it's not cancer! • Tender spot under the chin? part of the cold. Extremely deep, painful spots? I'm just run down. Eczema back on my hand? Exhaustion •